Resolve to evolve: Resolutions for change

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, as they have taken on the same mythic quality as Santa and the Easter Bunny. This is not to say I haven’t made resolutions in the past. I have, and have broken every one of them. After awhile I abandoned this annual exercise in artifice deciding instead to work continuously on achieving a life of voluntary simplicity and reducing my physical impact on the planet.
Carbon footprints are just the beginning of understanding. Have you ever wondered what your personal ecological footprint was? If size truly does matter, reason follows the smaller the impact the greater the good, ecologically speaking that is.
The 20th century mindset of greed is good, growth is god and gold is gravitas has failed on numerous levels. Now is the time to redesign the way we live, and realign our relationship with the planet that sustains humanity.
Economics are similar to ecology, as both deal with finite resources and market-driven forces. Building up a huge deficit to support current lifestyles has proven to be unsustainable. Our current economic predicament is merely a reflection of the ecological disconnect that has driven our culture for the past century.
The economic recession of 2008 will morph into a full-blown depression due to the fact global bureaucracies have completely embraced consumptive capitalism while actively seeking to discourage more benign paradigms of existence.
Do I believe the federal government will be able to avert a disaster 70 years in the making? Absolutely not. That nothing was learned from the Great Depression of 1933 is evidence enough. The real question is how to best prepare for a decade of economic hardships while adapting to rapidly changing global conditions.
Going deeper into debt is not the answer.
Taking my own advice, I have retired my only credit card. Cash in hand is the new rule. As for savings, that will have to wait until I pay off all existing debt. The goal for 2009 is to climb out of the economic hole I have dug for myself. Knowing I am responsible for bailing myself out, the first imperative is not taking on any more water.
This commitment to frugal restraint must be practiced at all levels, and not just personal spending. City and state leaders must also adopt the cash in hand philosophy. After all, what good does it do for private citizens to put their economic house in order when state and city governments are spending future finances like drunken sailors?
The year 2009 needs to be a year of frugality, thrift and diminished appetites. Californians need to focus on removing the credit monkey from our collective back. It needs to be a year of living within our means, even if that means sacrificing the comfort and convenience of credit.
Anything else would be unwise and irresponsible.

3 comments

DamienJanuary 14, 2009 at 1:48 pm

“Carbon Footprint”?
How can one of the most basic building blocks of all life be a pollutant?
The carbon cycle is no different from the water cycle. It is always in a state of changing from one form to another without ever increasing or decreasing the total amount that exists on the earth. It is simply being converted to another form. Just like water one day may be in the ocean, the next day a cloud, and the next snow on a mountain. Please ‘splain me’?

Bob NanningaJanuary 15, 2009 at 5:58 am

Carbon footprint refers to the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).

DamienJanuary 15, 2009 at 11:54 am

I’m aware of the definition. What I want to know is how can carbon be a pollutant? The earth itself pumps tons of CO2 into the atmosphere daily (converting the carbon from one form to another)and has been for millions of years. Again, converting carbon from one form to another (i.e. oil into CO2) is simply changing its form. Then natural processes convert it from CO2 to O2 thereby removing the carbon and converting it back into some other form. After a few million years probably back into oil. There is no net gain in the amount of carbon on the planet.